Stoker-box drive.



J. R. FORTUNE.

STOKER BOX DRIVE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-16,1914.

1,149,435. Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. R. FORTUNE.

STOKER BOX DRIVE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-16,1914.

1,149,435. Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. FORTUNE, DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

STOKER-BOX DRIVE.

Application filed January 16, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN R. FORTUNE, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Detroit, in the county of \Vayne and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inStoker-Box Drives, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had there in to the accompanying drawings.

In the operation of automatic stokers of the type in which the fuel isfed onto the upper ends of inclined grate bars, said grate extendingfrom the front to the rear of the furnace, it is found that when thefuel'is fed in equal amounts throughout the length of the grate the mostefficient operation of the furnace is not secured owing to the unequalburning of the coal on the grate, the fuel upon the rear portion thereofbeing most quickly consumed.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple and eflicientmeans whereby the feeding of the fuel to certain portions of the gratemay be varied independently ofthe means for supplying fuel to otherportlons thereof and further, to provide a simple construction of stokerbox actuating means whereby the parts may be easily detached for thepurpose of replacement or repair.

It is also an object of the invention to provide certain other new anduseful features in the construction and arrangement of feedingmechanisms, all as hereinafter more fully described.

To these ends the invention consists in the matters hereinafter morefully setforth and pointed out in the appended claims, referencebeinghad to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a transversevertical section through a furnace provided with automatic stokershaving feeding mechanism embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a detailshowing a' longitudinal section through a serles of stoker boxesembodying the invention, portions being broken away to shorten thefigure; Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse vertical section through one ofthe stoker boxes and adjacent parts; Fig. tie a perspective view ofaportion of one of the boxes detached; and Fig. 5-is aperspectlve view ofa filler block.

For convenience of illustration, the invention is shown as applied towhat is known as a Murphy type of furnace in which there are twoopposite sets of grate bars 1 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

Serial No. 812,591.

= supported at their lowerends upon a grate bearer 2 with their upperends adjacent to the inner edges of coking plates 3 extend ing alongeach side of the furnace from front to rear thereof below the lower endsof magazines 4, the inner side of each of which is formed by an archplate 5 and the lower side of the discharge throat or inclined bottom ofeach of which is formed by a detachable plate 6' beneath the lower edgeof whichbottom. a series of stoker boxes 7 is reciprocated upon thecoking plate to push fuel falling from the magazine upon said plate,from the same onto the upper ends of the inclined grate bars. It will,however, be understood that this invention may be applied to other typesor constructions of automatic stokers where reciprocable pusher-s orstoker boxes are employed to feed fuel onto the grates.

The several stoker boxes 7 have the general external form common todevices for this purpose in stokers of this type and each isreciprocated upon the coking plate by means of urgents or arms 8 upon ashaft 9 extending longitudinally beneath each series of boxes. Each armis formed with a sleeve portion in the form of a split ring 10 toembrace the shaft and is secured in place thereon by providing the shaftwith a short key ll whenever it is desirable to secure an arm to theshaft, said key engaging a notch in the sleeve which is drawn intoclamping engagement with the shaft by bolts 12 passing throughout-turned ends or ears 13 on the split ring. The outer ends of the arms8 are enlarged forming a head 14: on each arm having rounded edgecontact surfaces to engage the contact sides 15 of an opening 16 in ablock 17 which is detacliably held within each stoker box by providinghorizontally disposed longitudinally extending ribs or ledges 18 uponopposed walls of the box and forming the block with shoulders 19 toengage the upper sides of the ledges by forming a groove 20 along eachlower side angle of the block. Two of the arms or urgents 8 arepreferably provided for each box, one near each end, and at the outerends of the ledges 18 for supporting each block for each urgent, is atransverse wall 21 forming a stop or abutment for the block which isengaged with the ledges by placing the block in the box intermediate itsends and then moving it longitudinally thereof over the inner ends ofthe ledges;

hen the boxes are in place with the heads ll. of the urgents engagedwith the blocks and the urgents secured in their proper positions on theshaft, the blocks are held by the urgents against longitudinal movementin the boxes and disengagement from the ledges.

As shown in Fig. 3 the hole 16 in each block may be of greater widththan the width of the head ll of the arm and there will, therefore, belost motion between the arm and box in turning said shaft to actuate theboxes. If it is desirable to feed the maximum amount of fuel, blocks areinserted having openings just large enough to receive the heads of theurgents, but if a lesser amount is required, blocks having large holesare used, thus decreasing the feeding movement of the box due to thelost motion or idle movement of the arm. With a fixed length of movementof the urgents, the feeding movement of the boxes may therefore bevaried to suit conditions of installation by placing blocks which willgive the desired movement.

Then it is found desirable to feed less fuel to one part of the gratesthan to other parts, the boxes at the forward end of each series may beactuated independently of.

those at the rear end by providing a sleeve 22 on the forward end ofeach shaft 9 to which sleeve the urgents for the forward boxes aresecured in the same manner that the other urgents are secured to theshaft. Any suitable means (not shown) may be attached to the angularlyformed forward end of each sleeve outside of the furnace front forturning the sleeve to reciprocate the for ward boxes and similar meansmay be provided on the squared forward end of each shaft which projectsthrough the sleeve, for turning the shaft to actuate the rear boxes. Theshafts and their sleeves may be turned in timed relation to each otherby any suitable means (not shown) in the usual manner of automaticallyoperating stoker boxes. A greater amount of fuel may therefore be fed tothe rear portion of each grate than to its forward portion and the feedthus regulated to keep every part of the grate covered, thus giving themost eliicient operation and preventing the burning out of the gratebars.

Stokers of this construction are cheap to manufacture and may be quicklyand easily installed or repaired but it is obvious that changes may bemade therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and I donot, therefore, limit myself to the form or arrangement shown.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is 1. In anautomatic stoker, the combination of a plurality of members for feedingfuel, a shaft extending longitudinally of said members, means on saidshaft for actuating certain of said members, an actuating memberextending longitudinally of said shaft, and means on said actuatingmember for actuating the other of said members.

2. In an automatic stoker, the combination of a series of separatemembers for feeding fuel, a shaft extending longitudinally of saidseries, a sleeve on said shaft, means on said sleeve for operatingcertain of said members, and means on the shaft for operating the otherof said members.

3. In an automatic stoker, the combination with a coking plate, a grateadjacent to said plate, and a magazine above the plate, of a series ofstoker boxes slidable upon said plate beneath the magazine for feedingfuel therefrom, a shaft mounted in bearings beneath the coking plate andextending longitudinally thereof, a sleeve on the forward end of saidshaft of lesser length than the shaft and operable independentlythereof, aseries of members on the shaft for operating certain of saidstoker boxes, and a series of members on the sleeve for operating theother of said boxes.

4. In an automatic stoker, the combination with a coking plate, a grateadjacent to said plate and a magazine above the plate, of a series ofstoker boxes slidable upon said plate beneath the magazine for feedingfuel therefrom, a shaft mounted in bearings beneath the coking plate andextending longitudinally thereof, a sleeve on the forward end of saidshaft of lesser length than the shaft, a series of arms detachablysecured to said shaft beyond the end of said sleeve and extending upwardinto engagement with certain of said boxes, and a series of armsdetachably secured to said sleeve and extending upward into engagementwith the other of said boxes, the outer end of said shaft and sleevebeing adapted for the application thereto of power for turning the sameto reciprocate the boxes.

5. In an automatic stoker, the combination with a reciprocable memberfor feeding fuel, of a detachable block carried by saidmember andprovided with an opening, and

a movable arm having an end of lesser width than the width of theopening to engage said opening and actuate said member, whereby saidmember will be reciprocated a lesser distance than the length ofmovement of the arm and the distance of reciprocation may be changed bydetaching the block and substituting another having a different sizedopening.

6. In an automatic stoker, the combination of a plurality ofreciprocable members for feeding fuel, blocks detachably secured withinsaid members and having openings in their lower sides of differentwidths and a series of upwardly extending actuating arms having upperends within said openings of lesser Width than the width of saidopenings, said arms being adapted to turn upon a horizontal axisextending longitudinally beneath said members, and said blocks beinginterchangeable.

7. In an automatic stoker, the combination with a coking plate, of astoker box reciprocable across said plate, a block detachably securedwithin said box and having an opening in its lower side, a shaftextending longitudinally beneath said plate, and an upwardly extendingarm on said shaft with its upper end projecting into the opening in theblock to reciprocate the box upon the turning of the shaft, the openingin the block being of greater width than the efiec tive width of the armto provide a lost motion between the arm and box for the purposedescribed.

8. In an automatic stoker,the combination of a reciprocable member forfeeding fuel formed to receive a block, a removable block engaged withor disengaged from said member by a sliding movement of the block andprovided with an opening, a shaft, and an arm adjustably secured uponsaid shaft and loosely engaging said opening and holding the blockagainst disengagement from said member.

9. In an automatic stoker, the combination of a reciprocable member forfeeding fuel formed with a seat to receive and detachably hold a block,a block detachably engaged with said seat, a shaft, and an arm securedupon the shaft in engagement with said block to reciprocate said memberand to hold the block in its seat thereon.

10. In an automatic stoker, the combination of a series of stoker boxesfor feeding fuel each provided with longitudinally extending parallelledges, blocks to engage and rest upon said ledges and each formed.

with an opening in its lower side, a shaft supported longitudinallybeneath said series of boxes, and arms detachably secured to said shaftand provided with enlarged heads at their upper ends to engage theopenings in said blocks.

11. In an automatic stoker, the combination with a coking plateextending from front to rear of a furnace, a grate with its edgeadjacent to the edge of said plate, and a magazine above the plate, of aseries of separately movable stoker boxes reciprocable over said platebeneath said magazine, each box being formed with transverse walls andopposed parallel ledges on opposite longitudinal walls extending fromthe transverse Walls, blocks formed with shoulders to rest upon saidledges within the boxes and each having an opening extending verticallytherethrough, bearings beneath the coking plate, a shaft in saidbearings, a sleeve on the shaft of lesser length than the shaft, and aseries of arms detachably secured to said shaft and sleeve with theirupper ends within the openings in the blocks In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN R. FORTUNE.

Witnesses:

W. V. MOALLISTER, MILDRED M. CONRAD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.

